Quite a few patents have now issued which pertain to the art of bulk curing and drying whole leaf, flue-cured tobacco. One of the earliest patents in this field was Hassler U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,326. Hassler advocated the use of "racks" which were small enough so that they could be placed into a curing barn by one or two men.
In recent years the bulk curing art has developed toward the use of much larger containers for the tobacco leaves and such containers are so large and so heavy that they must be placed in a tobacco curing barn by means of a hoist, dolley, or equivalent mechanical means. A recent patent that illustrates this large type of bulk rack is Suggs U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,553. The disclosure of this patent is incorporated herein by reference since it illustrates the type of bulk container with which the present invention is concerned. Particular reference is made to the bulk container shown in FIGS. 18 and 19 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,553.